Undumb info from Dumblittleman:

“Spicy Nuts.
Now regular nuts meet our A, B and C requirements. They’re crunchy and interesting and full of fat, fiber and protein. But if you had a trough of them at the office, you’d be buying new pants weekly. That’s why I like spicy peanuts, they’re self regulating. You can only eat as many as you can handle. I like Ass Kickin’ Peanuts myself.

As an added bonus, snacking on these all day really builds up your tolerance for heat. So the next time you and your brother go out for Thai food you can make him look like a total wimp (I hate my brother).

Homemade Salsa and Tortilla Chips.
Tortilla chips with any dip are crunchy, creamy and low on the GI. Salsa is the best choice for a dip because it has the highest flavor/nutrition ratio and because when you make a batch it’s good for a week. You can pack it up and take it to work, unlike guacamole, which might make it to the table before it turns brown.

And I say homemade because it’s better, cheaper and super easy. I use the Alton Brown salsa recipe (halve that unless you’re a pro linebacker) and I buy bulk tortillas from the supermarket and fry them up in some corn oil. In about 10 minutes I have a bag of chips at 1/6 the cost and they’re restaurant quality.

Deviled Eggs.
Boiled eggs have the same benefits, but deviled eggs bring a little more flavor to the mouth party (yeah, I said that). They taste great, they’re filling and they have 0 carbs which means they don’t even register on the GI. I would call them self regulating because they are not easily packed and transported.

Half a Toasted Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich.
A whole sandwich is a bit too much for a snack, but a half is perfect. The peanut butter is the key part here, it’s got enough fat, protein and fiber to keep the GI low. The honey provides a nice sweetness with fewer calories (sugar is only 80% as sweet as honey) and it won’t create the purple slurm on one side of your sandwich like jelly will.

Don’t skip the toasting part though. The toast has a crunchy outside, chewy inside thing that makes this snack interesting; remember that’s important.

Homemade Popcorn.
This is my favorite. It’s pure fiber and carbohydrate and it’s GI isn’t too high. It tastes great and it has the most interesting mouth feel (I’m telling you, that’s important) of any snack. It’s perfectly healthy if you don’t add butter and it’s not too bad if you use a healthier olive oil butter spread. It keeps great for a day or so and if you haven’t eaten it by then (why would you not eat it by then?) throw it in a bowl with milk and sugar. Popcorn is the original cereal.

And if you make it yourself (don’t buy those overpriced bags of microwave popcorn with carcinogenic imitation butter) it’s practically free. It literally costs pennies per gallon if you pop it in a wok on your stove.

Almost free, tasty and healthy. What more could you want? Huh? You want more? 5 isn’t enough for you? Fine, whatever. Here is a 6th:

Bonus: Diced Apple with Lime.
This is big in Mexico and it’s a great way to make an apple a little tastier. Just dice it up real fine and squeeze a lime or lemon on top. The sour gives a great contrast to the earthy, sweet flavor of the apple. It also stops the apple from turning brown so you can dice it at home and throw it in a zip lock for work.

Snacking is an important part of your day but you have to snack smart. Look for things that have a low GI (fat and fiber) and always plan to snack. It’s thinking that you won’t eat anything between breakfast and lunch that leaves you standing in front of the candy machine at 10:30 in the morning, starting a cycle that’s going to ruin your day.”

Ha! You thought I was going to say, “with a rubber hose,” didn’t you? Maybe not. Anyway, thought I’d let you know about these nose filters since it’s allergy season.

From inventorspot:

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been allergic to polluted air. Leave me breathing fumes for a few hours and I’ll be suffering from constant cough and cold for the whole month—no kidding. While my doctor keeps prescribing me medicine, Bio International Japan concentrates on physically blocking the allergens out. As some might know, it isn’t deemed as strange in Japan to go around wearing face masks if you want to, but thankfully, Bio International has a better alternative. As you might have guessed from the pictures, the device in question is meant to be stuck up one’s nostrils. Not quite as appealing when said out loud, but it actually makes for quite a discreet anti-allergen gadget…”

Check out the rest here.

From moolanomy:

“I came home from work last night and my wife handed me the May issue of Parents magazine. She pointed out an articled called “25 Ways to Save Money on Health Care” by Teri Cettina. She thought I might like it, and she was right!
I am going to share the 25 ways here, but if you want the full detail you’ll have to check out the magazine — their web site is down so I can’t check to see if it’s available online or not. I’ll keep this brief, but there are a few that I will elaborate on.

1. Shop for the best health plan.
2. Consider a high deductible (HD) plan — I think HD works well for some people, especially in combination with a health savings account (HSA). However, I don’t think it’s a good fit for parents-to-be, new parents, and people who need a lot of medical attention.
3. Take advantage of perks offered by your health plan.
4. ring a list of covered prescription medications (”formulary”) to the doctor.
5. Be willing to ask your doctor about the cost and seek less expensive alternatives.
6. Stay up-to-date with routine and well-child checkups.
7. Stay in-network.
8. Slice your pills into two halves — Teri said that it might be possible to slice high-dose prescription pills to save money. Be sure to clear this with your doctor.
9. Look for special services — this is the same thing with #3?
10. Wear helmet and protective gears.
11. Opt for less expensive generic drugs.
12. Ask your doctor for drug samples.
13. Take advantage of tax-sheltered flexible spending account (FSA).
14. Split the cost between two plan years — I don’t think this works well for most situations, unless you are trying to take advantage of FSA.
15. Watch your hygiene. Wash your hands often….”

Read the rest

On this day paying hommage to the Earth, let’s read something by the awesome Michael Pollan:

“Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart.

But the drop-in-the-bucket issue is not the only problem lurking behind the “why bother” question. Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down, start biking to work, plant a big garden, turn down the thermostat so low I need the Jimmy Carter signature cardigan, forsake the clothes dryer for a laundry line across the yard, trade in the station wagon for a hybrid, get off the beef, go completely local. I could theoretically do all that, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?

A sense of personal virtue, you might suggest, somewhat sheepishly. But what good is that when virtue itself is quickly becoming a term of derision? And not just on the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal or on the lips of the vice president, who famously dismissed energy conservation as a “sign of personal virtue.” No, even in the pages of The New York Times and The New Yorker, it seems the epithet “virtuous,” when applied to an act of personal environmental responsibility, may be used only ironically. Tell me: How did it come to pass that virtue — a quality that for most of history has generally been deemed, well, a virtue — became a mark of liberal softheadedness? How peculiar, that doing the right thing by the environment — buying the hybrid, eating like a locavore — should now set you up for the Ed Begley Jr. treatment.

And even if in the face of this derision I decide I am going to bother, there arises the whole vexed question of…”

Continue reading

From rd:

“While some vitamin supplements can boost your health, others may actually harm.

Wild Claims
Google “vitamins” and you get 50 million results and the wildest claims you can imagine. That’s almost six times more than what you get for “Brad Pitt,” but the descriptions are just as breathless. As you navigate the maze of sites, you see phrases claiming vitamin supplements can “increase energy,” “stimulate brain function” and “improve sex drive.” There are promises of “reversing cancer” and “removing plaque” from your arteries. It all helps explain why Americans shell out $7.5 billion a year on vitamins, hoping to prolong life, slow aging and protect against a bevy of illnesses.

But new research not only refutes many of these claims, it also shows that some of these vitamins may in fact be harmful.

A February report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that taking antioxidant vitamins actually increased a person’s risk of dying by up to 16 percent.

A study by researchers at the University of Washington last May found that high doses of vitamin E taken over ten years slightly elevated lung cancer risk in smokers.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that men who took more than one multivitamin daily had a higher risk of prostate cancer.

Antioxidant Paradox
The antioxidant study, in particular, surprised a lot of people and has prompted a heated debate. Antioxidants such as vitamins A, beta carotene (another form of vitamin A), E and C have long enjoyed a reputation as disease fighters because they’re thought to protect against free radicals that can damage….”

Read the full article

From nutraingredients:

“Products containing high fructose corn syrup cannot be considered ‘natural’ and should not be labeled as such, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

The decision is likely to cause a massive stir in the food and beverage industry, where a discreet battle has been raging over the status of the controversial sweetener.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is derived from corn, and used primarily to sweeten beverages. The trade group Corn Refiners Association and numerous industry members have long maintained that HFCS is a natural sweetener.

However, the sugar industry is more critical, as HFCS comes into direct competition with sugar as a sweetener. Industry group Sugar Association, as well as consumer groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest categorically maintain that HFCS cannot be considered natural because its chemical bonds are broken and rearranged in the manufacturing process.

The debate raged on for one simple reason: FDA does not define the term ‘natural’, and it has therefore been left open to different interpretations.

However, in response to an inquiry from FoodNavigator-USA.com, the regulatory agency examined the composition of HFCS, which it said is produced using synthetic fixing agents.

“Consequently, we would object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing HFCS,” the agency’s Geraldine June said in an e-mail to FoodNavigator-USA.com. June is Supervisor of the Product Evaluation and Labeling team at FDA’s Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements.

FDA on ‘natural’

FDA has received two petitions to define the term ‘natural’ - one from the Sugar Association, and one from bakery firm Sara Lee.

Although the agency had not provided a formal response to these petitions, it told this publication that it has no plans to define the term in the near future, due to limited resources. “We’re not sure how high of an issue it is for consumers,” it said.

Nevertheless, FDA does have a longstanding policy regarding the use of the term. This states that a ‘natural’ product is one that has not had any artificial or synthetic substances added to the product that would not normally be expected to be in the food - including artificial flavors or color additives, regardless of source.

FDA also does not currently restrict the use of the term ‘natural’ except on products that contain added color, synthetic substances and flavors as provided for in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 101.22.

FDA on HFCS

Although FDA provides no definition or detailed guidelines for the use of the term ‘natural’, it said it has a system in place for manufacturers with doubts to approach it and ask for guidance on the use of particular ingredients.

Under this system, FoodNavigator-USA.com submitted an inquiry about HFCS.

FDA responded that HFCS is prepared from a high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate by partial enzymatic conversion of glucose (dextrose) to fructose using an insoluble glucose isomerase enzyme preparation.

The glucose isomerase enzyme preparation is fixed (rendered insoluble) using safe and suitable immobilization/fixing agents, it said.

“The use of synthetic fixing agents in the enzyme preparation, which is then used to produce HFCS, would not be consistent with our (…) policy regarding the use of the term ‘natural’,” said Geraldine June.

“Moreover, the corn starch hydrolysate, which is the substrate used in the production of HFCS, may be obtained through the use of safe and suitable acids or enzymes. Depending on the type of acid(s) used to obtain the corn starch hydrolysate, this substrate itself may not fit within the description of ‘natural’ and, therefore, HCFS produced from such corn starch hydrolysate would not qualify for a ‘natural’ labeling term,” she concluded.

HFCS and industry

Although FDA’s conclusion may not be welcome by some industry members, who would have liked to have promoted their HFCS-containing products as ‘natural’, it will at least prevent any future misinterpretations.

Last year for example, both Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft faced lawsuits after making ‘natural’ label claims on beverages that contained high fructose corn syrup. Both companies changed the labeling of their products before any legal action was taken.

The market for ‘natural’

The quest for natural foods and beverages has burgeoned on the back of an overall consumer move towards healthier nutrition.

According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database, ‘All Natural’ was the third most frequent claim made on food products launched in the US in 2007, appearing on 2,617 products. It ranked fourth most popular claim for beverages, used on 542 items.

In Europe, 878 ‘All Natural’ food products and 509 beverage products were launched last year.

Additionally, the Natural Marketing Institute reported in 2004 that 63 percent of US consumers have a preference for natural foods and beverages. In 2006, a Harris Interactive survey found that 83 percent of people wanted a government definition of the term.”

From webmd:

“Whoever coined the term “necessary evil” might have been thinking of pain. No one wants it, yet it’s the body’s way of getting your attention when something is wrong. You’re probably sufficiently in tune with your body to know when the pain is just a bother, perhaps the result of moving furniture a day or two before or eating that third enchilada. It’s when pain might signal something more serious that the internal dialogue begins:

“OK, this isn’t something to fool around with.”
“But I can’t miss my meeting.”
“And how many meetings will you miss if you land in the hospital?”
“I’ll give it one more day.”
Etc.
You need a guide. WebMD consulted doctors in cardiology, internal medicine, geriatrics, and psychiatry so you’ll understand which pains you must not ignore — and why. And, of course, if in doubt, get medical attention.

No. 1: Worst Headache of Your Life
Get medical attention immediately. “If you have a cold, it could be a sinus headache,” says Sandra Fryhofer, MD, MACP, spokeswoman for the American College of Physicians. “But you could have a brain hemorrhage or brain tumor. With any pain, unless you’re sure of what caused it, get it checked out.”

Sharon Brangman, MD, FACP, spokeswoman for the American Geriatrics Society, tells WebMD that when someone says they have the worst headache of their life, “what we learned in medical training was that was a classic sign of a brain aneurysm. Go immediately to the ER.”

Read the end of this post …

From discovery:

“How long has it been since you really enjoyed a glass of water?

Odds are, any number of things in your H2O (both better and worse for you than just regular water in its unspoiled state) have tainted your chance to experience this life-giving liquid at its best.

I recently had the chance to taste water at its most pure - straight from an iceberg - and it changed my outlook on it forever.

Inspired by that eye-opening glass, here - in my opinion - are the five best glasses of water on Earth:

5. Waste water never tasted so good

Folks in Sweden are so into water purification that Stockholm even has an annual water wastewater reclamation prize, offered up to the most deserving innovators. The city boasts a global reputation for doing things right when it comes to the environment.

From an area of the city that gets rid of its garbage and recycling through giant vacuum tubes and incinerators, to systems that recycle waste water to drink (from sinks, not the other place waste water comes from) the city has made some tough decisions to stick to a green agenda.

Having tasted this water (in regular and snazzy “sparkling” form), I can tell you it’s tastier than anything I’ve ever had out of a tap before - Hints of charcoal, but that’s maybe my reaction to a complete lack of fluoride or the bottled water I usually drink in Europe.

4. Tap water that doesn’t offend

According to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Awards (legitimately acknowledged as an authority on water taste), Clearbrook (near Abbotsford), British Columbia has the best-tasting tap water on Earth.

The BC town won the Virginia spa’s annual world-wide water taste-off for 2008, along with the water district of Southern California.

3. Best spring water on Earth

Though some die-hard environmentalists consider bottled water a big no-no, we’re talking taste here - and I can tell you that U.S.-based Tumai bottled water is the best-tasting liquid I have ever guzzled from a 500 ml prison of polycarbonate…

Read the end of this post …

Instead of using chemical dyes that are not friendly to the environment and are not always necessarily that safe - especially if you eat the eggs later, use dyes made from nature. You may have to soak the hardboiled eggs in the liquid much longer than with commercial dyes but the wait is worth it later when seeing the beautiful, natural colors. Experiment a little if you have some time to get the hue you want. In general, boil the ingredient until you get a dark hue, wait until the liquid is cool then soak your already hardboiled egg. In some cases you might want to boil your eggs and the ingredient together. Here are some eggsamples of colors and what to use to to get your egg the color you’d like:

Purple: Red Wine and crushed blueberries

Red and Pink: Fresh beets, canned cherries or frozen, Pomegranate juice, crushed (fresh) cranberries, red onion skins (use a lot of these then gather onion skins, boil for about 35 minutes, let cool, then soak your boiled eggs)

Orange and reddish brown: yellow onion skins (gather onion skins, boil for about 35 minutes, let cool, then soak your boiled eggs)

Lime Green: Spinach (put leaves through a juicer first)

Brown: Just get naturally brown eggs! or use strong coffee or strong black tea

Brown Orange: Chili Powder

Light Yellow: Lemon peels, orange peels or ground cumin

Golden yellow: Saffron or ground Tumeric

Blue: Crushed blueberries, red cabbage leaves (first boil the leaves for 35 minutes, let cool and then soak boiled eggs in the liquid. If you soak them overnight, you should get a rich, royal blue!)

From the Whole Earth Generation Contect (Whole Foods):

Now’s your chance to inspire the world and make the planet a greener place.

Are you under 18 and thinking green? Show us what you’re doing to be a part of the Whole Earth Generation. Are you recycling at your school? Planting trees? Forcing your parents to go green? Get in front of the camera and tell us about it.

Sing a song, rap, shoot a documentary, whatever - just send us a short video response showing how you’re making a difference. If we pick yours it’ll be featured leading up to Earth Day. You might even get to co-host one of our Whole Earth Generation Podcasts sponsored by Whole Foods.

Whole Earth Generation Details:
* Keep your video under two minutes.
* Be original and express your green self - we just want to see you being you.
* Keep it clean. No violence, profanity or direct attacks on individuals.
* Your video must be original and cannot infringe on any third party rights.
* Your video cannot have been previously published, broadcast, or otherwise publicly distributed.
* Winners will become “Green Ambassadors” and be featured as hosts in upcoming Whole Earth Generation podcasts.
* Make sure you follow YouTube’s Terms Of Service: http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

How to submit your video:
* Log in to YouTube. If you don’t have an account already, it’s easy and only takes a minute or so.
* Go to the YouTube video where our host is introducing the contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpGoOwRC1uU
* Under “Comments and Responses” click on “Post a video response”.
* If you haven’t uploaded the video you’d like to submit for the contest to YouTube yet, do so by going to “Upload a Video”.
* If you have uploaded the video already, select it by going to “Choose a Video”.

OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

ELIGIBILITY
Contestants must be between 8 years and 17 years of age and a legal resident of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia or Canada at the time of their audition to be eligible. All submissions become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Officers and employees of Whole Foods Market, their respective affiliates, subsidiaries and agents, and the immediate family members of the foregoing, are not eligible to enter. Sponsor is not responsible for late, lost, destroyed or misdirected entries. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Each entry must be submitted with a Submission Agreement to be eligible.

Full rules and regulations:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/weg_rules.html

To see a video about what you need to do to enter the contest, click here.

Reduce your negative impact on the earth and have an eco wedding (also called eco friendly weddings, green weddings, sustainable weddings). How? To start, here are some suggestions regarding eco-wedding dresses:

Forget White White Dresses
You might not know that many people die because of the toxic chemical process used to make wedding dresses that sparkly white. Also, there are 300,000+ illnesses (and mortalities) related to non-organic cotton farming practices (pesticides and other harmful toxins). I personally find that shiny whitey white, ugly. Anyway, get a dress that is natural, not chemically treated, not made in a sweatshop, but is made with earth-friendly materials and fabrics like: organic silk, organic wool, hemp silk, organic cotton, tencel and bamboo are the main fabrics available. You can still find eco-friendly white, that is much more natural looking than the chemical white counterparts. A note: many famous fashion designers use sustainable fabrics to make fabulous wedding dresses.

Simplicity - If you’re not into ultra fancy fashion, keep it very simple. Get a simple dress and make personal embellishments and designs yourself.

Shop Locally - Yes, this doesn’t just apply to veggies! Buy a dress from a local designer. You’ll save on transport costs and contributing to the local economy. You might also want to check out fashion design school budding students, who can make you a unique beautiful dress that will cost a fraction of what you’d spend if you’d bought a designer gown.

Lastly, about tuxes: Make sure tuxes are not chemically (dry) cleaned. Do try to find sustainable tuxedos.

Spring has sprung sort of and the weather is warming up. Well, it’s supposed to be warming up in most parts of the world and that means it’s time to think about flea control for your beloved pets.

Since most flea collars use very strong chemicals, keep your little cutie safe and use an herbal, natural flea collar as an alternative. That way, neither you or your animal family member needs to be touching dangerous substances. Your little guy will be free of fleas and everyone will be happy about that! Take a look at the cat flea collars here and the dog flea collars here.

These collars repel fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, gnats and biting flies using natural, safe essential oils.

Times are tough right now in the U.S. The strongest currency, the greenback, has dropped to number 2. Yup, now the euro is number one and well, it looks like it’ll be like that for a while. During times like these, anything can happen, including losing your job. If you lose your job, how will you pay your mortgage? This is happening all over the country and many people like you and me are finding themselves homeless. We can’t imagine ourselves homeless, can we? They felt exactly like us just a few months ago.

When the economy takes a hard hit like this, companies downsize, which might make your job position vulnerable. Anne Fisher, over at Fortune Magazine has written an article called, “8 ways to recession-proof your job.”

It might be a good thing to secure your job position but it will also be wise to have a Plan B.

Article

Here’s another article: How to protect yourself in a recession.

The Empowered Patient - is a new must-read book from author, Julia Hallisy. She has written something so fundamentally necessary that everyone will benefit from reading it. Some background: Her daughter, Kate, had been diagnosed with a fast-spreading cancer of the eye when she was just five months old. She’d underwent chemotherapy, radiation, reconstructive surgery, and an operation to remove her right eye. She’d developed a infection directly related to hospital malpractices that led to toxic-shock syndrome and a leg amputation. Kate died in 2000. She was only 11 years old.

“The Empowered Patient is by far one of the best resources available for patients and families to learn more about their health care experiences. The Empowered Patient is all-inclusive and speaks directly to the basic concerns that are faced in health care every day, raising issues rarely discussed with patients and families by providers. It is crucial to know what to do when seeking health care in our complicated and multi-faceted system, and this valuable resource will draw a clear path for the reader. The Empowered Patient might very well be the first of it’s kind in that it will educate and enlighten those who read it about issues that are either unknown or taken for granted by the reader. In the healthcare arena, what you don’t know can hurt you. The Empowered Patient is a book that belongs in every home and will no doubt save countless lives. “

^{–Jennifer Dingman, Co-President, PULSE of America}

Available at Amazon

From AP:

PALENQUE, Mexico (AP) — North American Indians assembled in the shadow of ancient Mayan pyramids Monday discussed how their tradition wisdom could help save the planet, and were told that even indigenous cultures have struggled with environmental abuse.
More than 200 leaders from 71 American Indian nations in Mexico, the United States and Canada came together in this Mexican jungle to find indigenous solutions to pollution and ecological problems threatening the planet.
“Our Mother Earth is being polluted at an alarming rate, and our elders say that she is dying,” said Raymond Sensmeier, a Tlingit leader from Yakutat, Alaska. “The way the weather is around the world … a cleansing is needed.”
The conference began with a pre-dawn ceremony that included fire, copal incense, chants in Lacandon Maya and blasts from a conch shell.
Speakers reminded attendees that even Indian cultures have battled with environmental abuse and pointed to theories that deforestation contributed to the collapse of the Maya who built the temples at Palenque.
“As we stand here, very near Palenque, I am mindful that some scholars have suggested that environmental stressors contributed to the decline of the Mayan civilization,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Elin Miller. “The planet-wide stress on the environment today means that collaborative efforts … are not just good things. They may well be essential for our survival.”
But, as Bill Erasmus, a representative of the indigenous people of Canada’s Northwest Territories noted, “part of our role is to wake up the world. It is very obvious to us all that the climate is changing.”
Mexico’s environment secretary, Juan Elvira Quesada, said the gathering is meant “to present the teachings of the original peoples of North America.”
“In this way, the indigenous communities can become the natural guides to restoring balance and harmony in the world,” he said.
The lessons they have to teach are simple - based on reviving Indian notions about ownership, use, compensation and respect.
“I sometimes talk to scientists,” said Sensmeier, “and they compartmentalize things, put things in boxes and disconnect them, and doing so promotes disharmony and imbalance.”

From the nyt:

“In 1968 a Chinese-American physician wrote a rather lighthearted letter to The New England Journal of Medicine. He had experienced numbness, palpitations and weakness after eating in Chinese restaurants in the United States, and wondered whether the monosodium glutamate used by cooks here (and then rarely used by cooks in China) might be to blame.

The consequences for the restaurant business, the food industry and American consumers were immediate and enormous. MSG, a common flavor enhancer and preservative used since the 1950s, was tagged as a toxin, removed from commercial baby food and generally driven underground by a new movement toward natural, whole foods.

“It was a nightmare for my family,” said Jennifer Hsu, a graphic designer whose parents owned several Chinese restaurants in New York City in the 1970s. “Not because we used that much MSG — although of course we used some — but because it meant that Americans came into the restaurant with these suspicious, hostile feelings.”

Even now, after “Chinese restaurant syndrome” has been thoroughly debunked (virtually all studies since then confirm that monosodium glutamate in normal concentrations has no effect on the overwhelming majority of people), the ingredient has a stigma that will not go away.

But then, neither will MSG.

Cooks around the world have remained dedicated to MSG, even though they may not know it by that name. As hydrolyzed soy protein or autolyzed yeast, it adds flavor to the canned chicken broth and to the packs of onion soup mix used by American home cooks, and to the cheese Goldfish crackers and the low-fat yogurts in many lunchboxes.

It is the taste of Marmite in the United Kingdom, of Golden Mountain sauce in Thailand, of Goya Sazón on the Latin islands of the Caribbean, of Salsa Lizano in Costa Rica and of Kewpie mayonnaise in Japan.

“It’s all the same thing: glutamate,” said Dr. Nuripa Chaudhari of the University of Miami, who was part of the first research team to identify human glutamate receptors.

In September Dr. Chaudhari will take part in the University of Tokyo’s centenary celebrations honoring Prof. Kikunae Ikeda’s 1908 discovery of glutamate flavor. The Japanese company Ajinomoto turned that discovery into crystalline powder form, MSG, and patented it in 1909.

“Just like salt and sugar, it exists in nature, it tastes good at normal levels, but large amounts at high concentrations taste strange and aren’t that good for you,” Dr. Chaudhari said.

If you live in the United States and like spicy tuna rolls, Puerto Rican roast pork or Thai noodles, there is a good chance you are eating, and enjoying, MSG. And if you are the kind of cook who likes to keep a globe-trotting kitchen, well, then, some of these MSG-laden ingredients may deserve a place in your cupboard.

“I don’t cook with MSG because that’s not my training, but it definitely has its place,” said Zak Pelaccio, a New York chef whose ride to fame has been greased with Kewpie mayonnaise. One of the dishes that put him on the map was a sandwich of roasted salmon on pumpernickel bread slathered with wasabi aioli: wasabi from a tube and the mayonnaise.

In regions where meat and meaty flavors have been out of reach for most cooks, MSG has long filled the gap.

“My father called Maggi sauce la segunda venida, the second coming, because he was not a very good cook and it saved him,” said Irma Cecilia Sanchez, a home health aide from Puebla, Mexico, who was waiting in line at a taco truck on the Upper West Side. Maggi sauce is a 19th-century Swiss creation, a general flavor enhancer now made with MSG, sweeteners and extracts.

Her mother died when …”

Continue

From bbc:

“A 101-year-old man has his sights on the London Marathon in a bid to become the world’s oldest competitive runner.
Working plumber Buster Martin ran Sunday’s Roding Valley half marathon in Essex in five hours 13 minutes, and is now focusing on London’s 26-mile event.

On finishing the run, the first words of the ex-member of rock band The Zimmers were: “Where’s my beer?”

Mr Martin, who has 17 children, started work at Pimlico Plumbers in London three years ago because he was bored.

He drank a tankard of ale before signing autographs and chatting to fans near the finish line of the Essex race.

‘A revelation’

Charlie Mullins, managing director of Pimlico Plumbers, said he was “amazed” when Mr Martin appeared at work on Monday morning after his exertions.

He said: “I was amazed and delighted, he turned up on time and set to work polishing the vans. He’s a revelation.”

Mr Martin’s trainer is marathon enthusiast Harmander Singh, who helped Fauja Singh, 96, break the London marathon record for the over-90s.

Buster, who lives in London, made headlines last year when …”

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From Reuters:

“RIVERDALE, California (Reuters) - Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California’s most alternative new energy.

On a dairy farm in the Golden State’s agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy.

The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of life- long dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the facility’s inauguration ceremony.

“When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile of manure. We saw it as an opportunity for farmers, for utilities, and for California,” Albers said.

In addition to being a partner in the 5,000-head Vintage Dairy, Albers is also president of BioEnergy Solutions, the company that funded and built the facility which cost millions of dollars. PG&E is simply a customer and the companies declined to give details of project finances.

As cow manure decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Scientists say controlling methane emissions from animals such as cows would be a major step in addressing climate change.

Enter the Vintage Dairy project. As luck would have it, methane can be captured and treated to produce renewable gas, and California regulators have directed PG&E and other utilities to make renewable energy at least 20 percent of their electricity supplies by 2010….”

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From AP:

Gorton’s Inc. recalled about 1,000 cases of frozen fish in 10 states on Friday after confirming items a Pennsylvania woman reported finding in her food were pills.

Gorton’s voluntarily recalled the product as a precaution while a laboratory conducts further tests to determine the nature of the pills. The results are expected early next week.

“Obviously product alteration is a very serious matter,” said Jud Reis, vice president of marketing for the Gloucester, Mass.-based company. “We are conducting a full investigation into the source of the problem.”

Tracy Rowan, of New Freedom, called police after she bit into one of the pills Sunday about the same time her daughter realized one was in her fish, too. On Friday, Reis said the material was some sort of pill, not compressed batter or bread crumbs as suspected.

“It’s kind of frightening to not only find something in your mouth, a foreign object,” Rowan said Friday. “But then basically my heart stopped when my daughter said, ‘I have one in my mouth, too,’ and pulled it out.” She described them as beige and aspirin-sized.

Rowan, her daughter and son spent about 3½ hours getting checked out in an emergency room. None of them has gotten sick, and Reis said the company knows of no other incidents.

Rowan’s 9-year-old daughter cooked and served the food, and they had eaten more than half of their fillets when they encountered the pills. Her 10-year-old son reported tasting something bitter and spit it out, but it’s unclear whether that also was a pill, she said.

Rowan said her daughter was adamant that she did not alter the fillets and that the pills found inside do not match any medicine in her home. The fish was purchased from a Giant supermarket in Shrewsbury.

“Kids are kids, but I went through here and I don’t have a single thing that matches that,” said Rowan, 47, a health care company project manager.

The recall is for Gorton’s 6 Crispy Battered Fish Fillets, 11.4 ounces. The UPC Code is No. 44400157770, with a date code of 7289G1 and best-if-used-by date of April 2009.

The fish was sent to nine other states: Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Reis said the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were investigating.

Consumers who purchased the fish can call Gorton’s at (800) 896-9479

Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats - Like most Americans, Steve Ettlinger eats processed foods. And, like most consumers, he didn’t have a clue as to what most of the ingredients on the labels mean. So when his young daughter asked, “Daddy, what’s polysorbate 60?” he was at a loss—and determined to find out.

From the phosphate mines in Idaho to the oil fields in China, Twinkie, Deconstructed demystifies some of the most common processed food ingredients— where they come from, how they are made, how they are used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they’re often more closely linked to rock and petroleum than any of the four food groups), we follow each Twinkie ingredient through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder—all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake.

An insightful exploration of the modern food industry, if you’ve ever wondered what you’re eating when you consume foods containing mono- and diglycerides or calcium sulfate (the latter a food-grade equivalent of plaster of paris), this book is for you.

Find out more about the book

From the slttribune:

“Most Utah consumers want to know what’s in their food and how it is produced. Some prefer vegetables and fruit that are grown without pesticides, and milk and meat that are produced with no growth hormones.
Food grown under those conditions and other federally mandated standards can be labeled “certified organic.” with a description of the required production standards.
That’s not to say non-organic food is unsafe or inferior. The two are simply produced differently, and consumers have a fundamental right to make a choice. To do that, they have to have the information contained on food labels. But a Utah House member who is also a non-organic dairy farmer wants to restrict labeling for organic foods, keeping important information out of the hands of consumers.
Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, says that labeling milk as having been produced without the use of the bovine growth hormone rBST is “misleading” and implies that non-organic products are not as safe as those labeled organic.
That’s bunk. And self-serving bunk at that.
Gibson and others, including Monsanto, the company that produces rBST and makes a lot of money selling it to farmers, are proposing a Utah Agriculture Department rule change. The new rule would prohibit milk being labeled “rBST-free” or any food labels or ads that make any claim, true or otherwise, that can’t be proven by an “analytical test.”
That’s bunk, too.
The label “Made in Utah” would be prohibited, since such a claim cannot be verified by an analytical test. A sentence on a soup can reading “just the right herbs and spices in a flavorful broth” would have to be verified by an analytical test.
The rule would allow milk to be labeled…”

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From apartmenttherapy:

“Picking out a pillow must be one of the most subjective and personal choices one can make for their personal well-being. It’s just a pillow, but it makes a huge difference between having a good night’s rest and one tossing and turning. Another consideration for many is allergies. Although goose down is considered the premium choice, there are many out there who’d suffer dearly sleeping on the soft filling. So we’ve compiled a list of ten natural, eco-friendly choices for your sleeping needs worth considering…”

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Perhaps not totally aware of it, nearly half of all teenagers bought online music and software and downloaded it, instead of buying CDs, which is a great relief to the environment. You see, all of those billions of CDs and plastic CD cases will eventually end up in a dump or incinerator somewhere only to leach hazardous chemicals into the ground or pollute the air with toxic fumes. The environmental impact of CDs and DVDs on the environment (and your health) is enormous. More than 5.5 million boxes of software go to landfills and incinerators every year.

Teenagers, I’m proud of you for what you’ve done, whether you realize what you’ve done or not.

From the guardian:

“Prozac, the bestselling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, does not work and nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review released today.

The study examined all available data on the drugs, including results from clinical trials that the manufacturers chose not to publish at the time. The trials compared the effect on patients taking the drugs with those given a placebo or sugar pill.

When all the data was pulled together, it appeared that patients had improved - but those on placebo improved just as much as those on the drugs.

The only exception is in the most severely depressed patients, according to the authors - Prof Irving Kirsch from the department of psychology at Hull University and colleagues in the US and Canada. But that is probably because the placebo stopped working so well, they say, rather than the drugs having worked better.

“Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe antidepressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed,” says Kirsch. “This study raises serious issues that need to be addressed surrounding drug licensing and how drug trial data is reported.”

The paper, published today in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine, is likely to have a significant impact on the prescribing of the drugs. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) already recommends that counselling should be tried before doctors prescribe antidepressants. Kirsch, who was one of the consultants for the guidelines, says the new analysis “would suggest that the prescription of antidepressant medications might be restricted even more”.

The review breaks new ground because…”

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I personally would like to stay away from engineered foods but it’s so hard to do that if you live in the U.S. Many people don’t believe it does any harm but I do. Why take the chance on your health and the health of your own kids? Find out what scientists have discovered about GMO foods. Here are some books that will shed some much needed light about the topic. Remember, the researchers that have deemed GMO foods safe, WORK for the GMO industry. Lots of negative data will be left out but the general public rarely hears about that. Read these books and find out more, so you can make an educated decision about whether it’s safe to eat food that has been genetically modified.

Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods - “When I worked at Monsanto, I warned both scientists and executives that our GM foods may cause disease, but no one was even willing to listen, let alone investigate the unpredicted side effects. For them, it was all about profit. Now our whole population is threatened by the serious dangers described in Genetic Roulette.” —Kirk J. Azevedo, DC

The Gmo Trilogy And Seeds of Deception Set - DVD 1: Unnatural Selection: This stunning, award-winning documentary by Bertram Verhaag and Gabriele Kröber reveals harsh consequences of genetic engineering on three continents. Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell, Percy Schmeiser and others, describe uncontrollable, self-replicating GM contamination, failed crops, farmer suicides, and new GM animals that threaten natural populations. DVD 2: Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals: Genetically Engineered Foods: Shocking research results, inadequate regulations and warnings from eminent scientists explain why GM foods are dangerous and should be removed from kids’ meals.

Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating - Recent news headlines have focused on the disagreement between the U.S. and Europe over genetically modified foods: the U.S. exports them, but the European Union doesn’t want to import them, believing their safety remains unproven. Are genetically modified foods safe? Longtime anti-GM foods campaigner Smith presents the “opposing” case. He offers cases where GM produced results that were at best unexpected (increased starch content in potatoes), at worst grotesque (pigs without genitals). He describes how one corporation reportedly tried to bribe Canadian government scientists into approving genetically engineered bovine growth hormones they deemed unsafe; how some scientists have reported their careers were threatened as a result of their refusal to approve certain GM products in the U.S.; and how “conflicts of interest, sloppy science, and industry influence” can distort the approval process. The cases Smith presents are scary and timely, but he explores only one side of the story. Readers looking for a balance consideration of genetically modified foods will want to look elsewhere.

Beware of the Coming Food Apocalypse! GMOs - GMOs - Beware Of The Coming Food Apocalypse! — is such a warning. Our food supply is being threatened by a new and highly controversial technology that is being unleashed upon us whether we like it or not. Unless a massive protest against this radical new science arises from the people, it may very well be too late for the human race. This book will make you angry; this book will get you mad, but it is a story that must be told. Please share it with everyone you love.

Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food - More than half of America’s processed grocery products — from corn flakes to granola bars to diet drinks — contain genetically altered ingredients. They are unlabeled and untested, and we are eating them. Your Right to Know is a complete, full-color reference guide outlining how unmarked genetically modified foods go from the factory to the family dining table, and what consumers can do about the health risks they present. This accessible guide is for concerned parents — as well as anyone concerned about genetically altered foods — who want to know more about the potential health risks, the organic alternatives, and the methods available to counter the corporate takeover of the food we eat

Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers - The 1995 outbreak of “mad cow” disease in Europe provoked public attention to genetically engineered or modified food, a concern that has spread to the U.S. Cummins and Lilliston, food safety advocates, examine the scientific, political, economic, and health issues. With billions of dollars in profits at stake, the biotech food industry promises that new technology will end world hunger and improve public health and the environment. Cummins and Lilliston weigh those promises against the unpredictability of the new technology, and the fact that much of it hasn’t been adequately tested for safety and that its products are being distributed without labeling. Genetically modified organisms are so common that they are part of the average consumer’s daily intake in food from breakfast cereals to infant formula to margarine. The authors include information on what consumers can do, from smart shopping to grassroots lobbying, to reduce the threat of genetically engineered food. This is a thorough and well-researched look at an issue of growing public concern.